Former President Bill Clinton emphasized the need for cooperation among countries and political leaders Monday night even as he praised the city in front of a packed St. Augustine Amphitheatre.

Clinton was the first president or vice president, current or former, to speak in St. Augustine in nearly 50 years, and he did it before a receptive audience of baby boomers, many loyal Democrats, some disappointed Republicans and several state and local leaders. Lyndon Johnson, then the vice president, was in St. Augustine in 1963.

“Wow, I walked in and saw this crowd and thought: How many people think they are here to see Tony Bennett?” he said to laughter. Bennett is to perform at the Amphitheatre today.

He went on to speak highly of Bennett, before saying “You all are stuck with me.”

Among the crowd was former presidential candidate George McGovern, who got a standing ovation from the crowd, as well as former Gov. and Sen. Bob Graham, St. Augustine Mayor Joe Boles and Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown. McGovern lives in St. Augustine during the winter.

As a preface to remarks that would range from the Human Genome Project to China’s water challenges, Clinton spoke about the history of St. Augustine and what he said was his excitement at visiting the city.

“I’ve been like a kid with a new toy, in anticipation of coming to St. Augustine,” he said. He said he even left early so he could “drive around town” and see it.

Then he stepped in it. Or so it seemed.

“I know you all are coming up on the 50th anniversary ...,” the audience interrupted him, and some booed a little, thinking he meant the upcoming 450th celebration of the city’s founding.

“Now, wait, let me finish,” he said, with composure. And he went on to speak about the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights movement here, which is coming up in 2014.

He also mentioned the monument to the liberal Spanish constitution of 1812 in the Plaza de la Constitucion in downtown St. Augustine and Fort Mose, the first free black settlement in the nation.

“Before the Underground Railroad, the only sure route to freedom was down here,” Clinton said. “They would give you land ... if you agreed to defend St. Augustine. You should be very proud.”

Calls for respect

But as his speech progressed, he kept coming back again to the terms “global interdependence” and the need to cooperate with other countries. And he spoke often about the need for political parties here to respect opponents and work together.

“We need to spend less time talking about what we disagree about,” he said. He said his mission through the Clinton Foundation was to “increase the positive forces of interdependence.”

He said the country’s political system has grown “long in the tooth” and needed reform though “we are young because of our capacity for renewal and continuous change.”

And the political climate? Too contentious.

“When you get mad, you stop thinking,” Clinton said. “And every election seems designed to get you as mad as can be. We don’t need ‘mad.’”

Instead, “building a future for America is a team sport,” Clinton said. “And we need to start acting like that.”

He also mentioned genetic mapping.

“We are 99 1/2 percent the same (genetically). But we spend 99 percent of our time worrying about the 1/2 percent that’s different,” He said to applause. “Before you get too carried away, we’re all guilty.”

After the speech, which garnered a standing ovation, St. Johns County Council On Aging Executive Director Cathy Brown asked him questions.

The questions had been vetted beforehand and ran the gamut from education to sexism, and Clinton seemed to have a lot to say about both.

Early literacy is key

In his comments on education, he focused on early literacy.

“The key to learning other subjects is being able to read,” Clinton said.

And as far as charter schools, a hot topic for Florida, he said he supported “public schools and charter schools both if they are succeeding.

“I like charter schools but they’re no better than public schools that are failing if they are not held accountable.”

But in terms of education as a system, “There is no silver bullet,” he said.

Brown lobbed another question: What did he think “as the father of a daughter” about what she called a backlash against women?

He said he didn’t like Rush Limbaugh’s epithet in describing a Georgetown law student.

“And I didn’t like it when sexual remarks were made by liberal media toward (vice presidential candidate) Sarah Palin,” Clinton said.

He said he saw sexism everywhere in his travels, and that the case here was more like a “low grade fever” compared to rampant disease in other areas.

“There’s a sense among males that somehow if they can’t tell women what to do, they aren’t real men. There are still people who psychologically think they are not real man if they can’t tell some woman what to do.”

Then he paused.

“They should try it in my house,” he said, to laughs.

And he talked about his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

“We need to be a model for the world and we need to be careful before we attribute a gender term to someone we disagree with,” he said.

According to Clinton:

The country and globe face three big, negative challenges:

n The world is too unequal

n Too unstable

n The current trend toward expansion is not sustainable.

Among his solutions:

Increase the positive forces of interdependence.

“Now, it didn’t surprise Hillary and Chelsea that I was part Neanderthal. But they were shocked they were too.” -- Former President Bill Clinton speaking about the Human Genome Project

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“The free market would have worked, had not the players manipulated the game….”

From my perspective the repeal of Glass Stegall was a move TOWARD free markets and it was a lesser regulated free market that helped to create the problem. I think the appetite for risk was driven by a greed for profits and promotion and would have found its path for excess with or without Glass Stegall. I don’t dispute that risk taking increased and that the merging of banks and investment banks weakened banks but hindsight is always 20/20. I am sure the people responsible for the runaway derivatives were not thinking they were creating a financial meltdown. Nobody, including Wall Street wanted that. Faulty systems, stupid underwriting and fraud at the first line origination level were the prime drivers. The derivatives “concept” was less to blame than the garbage that was put into them-- that soured because the real estate market soured. Should a real estate collapse been foreseen? Probably!

Lots of blame to go around – did repeal of G/S contribute – probably -- but was it determinative – I don’t think so. Poor judgment, poor underwriting is not criminal. Allowing “too big to fail” to become a reality – that was a mistake but to its core that is something the GOP and to a lesser extent some Democrats did not think possible or relevant. Remember Alan Greenspan?

HE DID A FINE JOB OF RUNNING OUR COUNTRY AND THAT'S WHAT WE HIRED HIM TO DO.

And yet there are far too many who preferred a fratboy bumpkin drunk fool, who did nothing but avenge his daddy and line his buddy's pockets with cash made from the deaths of our young people, fighting in the wrong country.

lonnya writes:
"How did America come to the era when anonymous slurs, character assassination and attacks on the messenger instead of the message have become so common? The politics of personal destruction was turned into an art form by the rabid right during the Clinton Administration and obviously has been born again – this time compounded by obvious additional levels ignorance."

that kind of crap has been around a lot longer than most people realize...as long as there's been a free press, the politics of personal destruction have always been a part of it.

what some members of the press did to lincoln during the pre civil war years and during the war itself , when he was the president...shouldn't have been done to a dog.

unfortunately the price of a free press is the yapping heads on fox news and msnbc. the alternative is censorship and no one wants that.

as for the mood of the people (which i assume is that upon which you were commenting)...when the electorate is a closely divided as ours has been since florida 2000...expect a lot of white noise.

the media has an infinite capacity for giving the people what they want.

rush limbaugh and sean hannity may be mouthpieces for the right...but bill maher and michael moore are certainly useful idiots for the left.

as elvis costello said..."i used to be disgusted, now i try to be amused."

Pathetic Charms -- I am not ME’s "mate". Can't you come up with something better and more appropriate? You are the making accusations -- accusing "ME" of apparent bad behavior toward you or others. Simply saying that is insufficient by ANY standard. When accusing somebody you need to supply some evidence to support your accusation especially if you are challenged -- It’s the American way Charms -- otherwise it’s just smear and slander.

As is the case in almost every situation (except right wing politics) the burden of proof rests with the accuser. People don't need to prove their innocence -- accusers -- prosecutors -- need to prove guilt.

Do you remember when Hillary Clinton murdered Vince Foster in her secret Georgetown "love nest" (condo) and then moved his body to the park? The very sleazy right leveled that accusation and suggested she was supposed to prove she didn't. That's not possible (you cannot prove a negative) but it made no difference to ignorant right wingers who cared only for the shock value -- only for the headlines and the slander they could spread over the Internet. Not much has changed in 20 years! The right still won’t play by the rules and is looking for shock value. Mitt Romney lies through his teeth in every speech for impact. But that’s okay he thinks it’s an Etch a Sketch world.

So, you have repeatedly played the shock value game against “ME”, now what incriminating evidence do you want to disclose – or is time for you to hit and run again?